Is Kmart going to survive?

Yesterday, I went to shop in Kmart with Charlotte and Evelyne. Charlotte had somehow received a credit with that particular store and had settled on a flat LCD screen TV, so we looked into the electronics department. She liked a Sony model that wasn’t in stock and since only the floor model was available, we naturally asked if we could buy it, minus some kind of discount perhaps, but the answer was that it was against “company policy” and that they didn’t sell “floor samples” this way. She finally decided for another brand and model, along with a DVD player. Since she was left with about $15 on her credit, she spent it on sundry items. We had little expectation when we stepped into the rather unappealing “Super K” store and I frankly didn’t think we’d find what we bought, especially after browsing at their on-line offering, but we finally made it happen. This said, I doubt that Kmart and its Sears sibling will be able to make it into the future. They seem so “frozen in time” and their target clientele is on the way to extinction. Over the years, I’ve learned that “agonies” of that nature can be quite long and I think that by 2012 or at the most by 2015, they’ll both be history…